Monday, Monday!

Today was another slow-paced day here in lovely Guatemala City. The weather was beautiful and very warm. We did more walking and shopping and eating and game-playing and ride-riding. The girls are getting along SO well!

Tomorrow is our appointment with the Consul General at the U.S. Embassy. Not sure what we can expect from her, but at least she'll meet us, hear our story and hopefully remember us when the time comes for our case to come before her.

Later in the afternoon, we have a pre-hearing meeting with our attorney. Hopefully we'll feel a little more prepared after we talk with her.

This is what we've woken up to the past two mornings. What is it with kids and forts?!

This is a roller coaster they just built in one of the malls.

Isn't the ponytail in the wrong place?

Everybody loves a Frosty!

Pacaya today......a little steamy.

A pile of volcanic sand and lots more already bagged.

Some Pictures From Our Trip So Far

Today, we slept in, lazed around, had a nice lunch, shopped some, got stuck in the mall during a heavy rain shower, and just had a very low-key day. Here are some pictures from yesterday and today.

Pacaya, behaving herself.

Volcanic sand on the window sill.

Enjoying some breakfast.

Sun setting on Guatemala for today.

We've Arrived!

We touched down in Guatemala about an hour after we were scheduled to due to some luggage delay in Atlanta and arrived at the hotel about 1:30. For some reason in Atlanta, we were bumped up to first class seats! So sitting on the runway for an extra hour, didn't really seem so bad! (The hot towels and fancy filet mignon lunch complete with dense chocolate cheesecake for dessert didn't hurt either!)

Flying over and into Guatemala, we tried to see what the volcano/storm damage was. Of what we could see out the window, the rivers were muddy and there were areas on some of the mountainsides where the ground washed away, but we couldn't really see any extensive damage where we were looking. Pacaya (the offending volcano) seen from the hotel today, is quiet.

The clean-up effort in the city is still going on, but I must say, they've done a wonderful job. There are piles of black volcanic sand (not ash) on the sides of the streets that they're putting into bags and hauling off. And we've been told that that big sinkhole that we've all seen pictures of? Is small compared to the one they had last year in the same area! Really??!!

Olivia's foster family brought her to us shortly after 5:00 and said that the trip in from their home which normally takes about 45 minutes, took them 2 hours due to washed out bridges and bad road conditions.

Olivia is awesome! She charged towards me full speed when they entered the hotel lobby. We were talking to Mirna and all of a sudden there she was. I'll tell ya, that does a mommy's heart good!

We don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow, so we'll just take it easy. We have an appointment at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday morning and of course Wednesday morning is our much anticipated hearing.

So stay tuned!

An Angry Volcano + a Tropical Storm + a Surreal Sinkhole = ... a Date with the Judge!

This past week has been a stressful one to say the least.

As time has been growing closer to June 9th, our Court date, the realities of what may or may not be decided by the judge that day have been weighing on my mind. Couple that with the last minute projects I've created for myself that must be done before we leave. (I've always worked best under a modest amount of pressure........)

Last Wednesday, 10 days before our departure, I find out that my dear brother is in the hospital ICU in very serious condition. Now all my focus is on him and praying for his recovery.

Two days later on Friday, I'm watching the morning news and see that our "favorite" Guatemalan volcano, Pacaya, the one that we see from our hotel, has erupted. What?!! People have been evacuated, the airport is shut down and there's 2 inches of ash everywhere. Knowing that Olivia lives relatively close to Pacaya, I immediately emailed her foster family to make sure they were all safe.

Then Saturday the first tropical storm of the season pounds Guatemala with as much rain in several hours as they would normally get in a year. Oh my word!

How is my child?!
Where is my child?!
What's going on???!

After spending the weekend visiting my brother and seeing that he is much better and on the mend, we return home Sunday night to find an email from Olivia's foster family, saying that they are all okay and safe. Praise the Lord on both counts!


Monday, we see pictures of the sinkhole in Guatemala City. Have you seen the sinkhole? Absolutely surreal.

LOOK!!!

Now we're thinking...... with all this turmoil all at once in this small Central American country, are we still going to be able to go as scheduled? Should we go? Will our hearing be postponed? If so, for how long this time? Will this set our case back even more?

We've been trying to get answers to all these questions for days now and thanks to our wonderful friend and translator, Mirna, we now know that our hearing is indeed still on for Wednesday! With 2 1/2 days to spare before we leave!


We'll be off bright and early Saturday morning and will send updates as often as we can. Please pray for safe travels, safety while we're there, that the judge allows us to finally go ahead with Olivia's adoption and for all the people of Guatemala who are struggling right now. Thanks!

The Face of My Child.

Three years ago today, I received a phone call from our adoption agency director, Lymaris. We had begun this process 2 months (to the day) before, and had another month before all our paperwork would be complete.

She told me that they had just received a little 17 month-old girl who was malnourished, but seemed otherwise healthy. She knew that we had "requested" a girl between the ages of 12 and 24 months on our application and thought we might be interested in her.

Well, needless to say, I was excited! My heart was pounding and my mind was racing. We hadn't expected to get a child referral until after all our paperwork was completed. This phone call caught me off guard for sure!

Lymaris went on to tell me that she had photos of this child and would be happy to email them to me right away. I of course, told her to go right ahead! She asked me to take a look and contact her later to let her know what we think.

After I hung up the phone, heart still pounding and mind still racing, I called Bryan at work and told him of the very interesting call I'd just had. I told him that I would be receiving photos via email at any second and asked him if I should wait to look at them until he got home..... several hours from then, or would he mind if I looked without him. He said to go ahead, but that he didn't want me to forward them to him at work, he wanted to see them at home.

So now, alone in front of my computer, (Emily was off playing), I click to receive any new emails. There. It. Is. The subject line read, "fotos de nena nueva", (new baby photos). I hesitated to click to open the email. I knew that the moment I opened it and saw the pictures, I would be looking at the face of my child. This wasn't going to be me browsing through photos of some little girl in Guatemala, shopping for a daughter, no. I knew THIS little girl was going to be OUR daughter. Pretty big stuff.

Well, after a few minutes, I took a deep breath and clicked. There were 7 attached photos. This is the first image I saw of my little girl.

So tiny, so sad. Those red shoes. I opened the rest of the pictures, and yes, there were tears! Tears of happiness to see her face, but also tears of sadness to see her face. I didn't know her story, but I could see, by looking at that precious face, she had been through so much already in her young life.

The photos were date stamped. They had been taken just the evening before.

When Bryan got home that night, he sat in front of the computer, clicked open the email and saw our daughter for the first time. More tears, but more importantly, an immediate mutual knowledge that yes, she was meant to be ours. There was no hesitation what-so-ever. Whatever we needed to do to bring her home, that's what we'd do.

Fast forward 3 years and 3 years worth of "Whatever we need to do to bring her home". We remain fully committed to this child. Our child. She is SO worth it.

Just look at that face.

New Pictures of Our Gal!

Just before Olivia left with her foster family during our last trip, we gave them a camera to take pictures of Olivia for us. We just got these emailed to us. Her personality certainly shines through! 8 1/2 weeks till we see her gain!

Olivia and her foster brother, Aland.

We're Home Again

We arrived home late Monday night, but we said "bye-bye" to Olivia Sunday evening. Her foster parents came to pick her up about 6:00 and as it turns out their first grandchild was being born when they were with us! Their oldest son and his wife had a baby boy, they were so excited! We felt bad because they were with us instead of being there for the birth.

So Sunday we ventured out to an area of the city we hadn't gone before. We were told of a place only 2 blocks away that we were eager to visit. Yes, we walked to Hiper Paiz, the Central American Walmart! I had heard of the stores before, but had no idea there was one was so close to our hotel! Those of you who know us, know that Walmart is a Charles family staple, we generally try to visit one where ever we go. So this was a treat!

After that the girls spied the big Burger King across the street with the equally big playplace..... so that's where we had lunch.

We then headed back to the hotel and upon entering the mall under the hotel, we noticed a crowd watching this guy dressed up like a silver cowboy. He'd stand motionless like a statue then would interact with the crowd. The girls thought he was really neat. He called them up to shake hands and then posed for a picture with them, they were tickled!

When we got back to the room, I told Olivia that Mama Brenda would be coming later that afternoon and she seemed okay with that. We gave her some Easter candy and a really big stuffed lamb.

We were sad to see her go, but it'll only be 11 weeks until we're back there again. We didn't talk to our attorney at all this time, but Mirna reiterated what they had both told us back in Nov. that the judge will most likely rule in our favor at the hearing in June and things should move relatively "quickly" from then.

Here are the pictures taken on Sunday.

Olivia wearing her school jacket